Listen Whitey! 4 Stars in MOJO (Posted By Harry)

Listen Whitey!

Over a five-year period in Oakland, CA – archivist Pat Thomas befriended key leaders of the seminal Black Power Movement, dug through Huey Newton’s archives at Stanford University, spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on eBay, and talked to rank and file Black Panther Party members, uncovering dozens of obscure albums, singles, and stray tapes. Along the way, he began to piece together a time period (1967-1974) when revolutionaries were seen as pop culture icons: Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael – and musicians were seen as revolutionaries; Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and others. As a result, Thomas wrote a 70,000-word hardcover book entitled Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power – to be published by Fantagraphics in early 2012 – which also includes some 200 full color images of obscure recordings that encompass rock, soul, jazz, comedy, poetry, and even religious sermons blended with Black Nationalism. *Light In The Attic Records presents the companion ‘soundtrack’ to the book. For the time first ever, Black and White artists share space on a definitive anthology of the Black Power era. Listen, Whitey! is cross-cultural overview that sees Bob Dylan’s out of print 1971 single “George Jackson” reissued for the first time along with several selections from Motown’s long forgotten ‘Black Forum’ label – Motown’s early 70’s Black Power militant imprint that has never been documented until now with provocative recordings from SNCC spokesman Stokely Carmichael, outspoken African-American poet Amiri Baraka, and Black Panther Party singer/songwriter Elaine Brown.